Baggage tags are used daily in countless numbers by airlines, railroads, and others. In recent years, disposable, thermally imprintable, baggage tags have entered into widespread use. Most have employed materials other than paper as the predominant material from which they are fabricated.
Recently, disposable, thermally imageable, tags, predominantly of paper, have been suggested and one such is disclosed in Breen et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,817,310. A baggage tag of related interest is disclosed in Breen U.S. Pat. No. 4,630,384.
The baggage tag disclosed in the Breen et al. patent noted above is made from a laminate including a top sheet and a bottom sheet with reinforcing fibers disposed between the top and bottom sheets. In forming such a laminate, it is known to use a hot-melt adhesive to unite the top sheet, the reinforcing fibers, and the bottom sheet. Moreover, it is known to press the laminate in a nip defined by a steel-surfaced pressing roll engaging the top sheet and a rubber-surfaced pressing roll engaging the bottom sheet.
In the Breen et al. patent noted above, it is disclosed that after the laminate has been formed, one surface of the top sheet is coated with a thermally sensitive material facilitating thermal imaging of data on the coated surface.
There has been a need, to which this invention is addressed, for an improved method of making a laminated, thermally imageable tag, such as a baggage tag, which may be predominantly of paper.